Nutrition and teeth health go hand in hand.  The teeth, bones and soft tissue of the mouth require a healthy, well-balanced diet.  A variety of foods from the five food groups helps minimize and prevent cavities and other dental problems. Many popular snacks that children eat cause cavities, so we recommend you offer your child healthy foods like vegetables, low-fat yogurt and cheeses, which promote strong teeth.  Read on to learn how you can help your children build and maintain healthy teeth through what they eat. Your Mountain Aire Dentistry team is always here to answer any questions you have!

Help Your Teeth by Reaching for These Foods First!

Nutrition and teeth health habits start small, but can grow into rooted behaviors.  If you currently don’t have good, nutrition and teeth health habits, now is the time to make goals and start a new habit!  Good nutrition and your teeth health are connected with healthy food choices.  Here are some tooth-friendly foods to add to your nutrition and teeth health goals:

• Water: Helps to wash decay-promoting particles from your teeth. Water is a great choice for hydration because it is sugar-free and helps in the digestion process.  
• Dairy: Aged cheeses are best to aid in saliva production. (Saliva can help to rid your teeth of decay-causing food particles.)  Milk, and plain yogurt are also great choices.
• Fruits and Vegetables: Reach for fruits and vegetables as a snack instead of carbohydrates. Fruits and Vegetables that contain a high volume of water–such as pears, melons, celery, and cucumber–are best. Foods high in water help balance ingested sugars and help to clean the teeth.  Many fruits and vegetables also contain vitamin C (important for healthy gums and quick healing of wounds) and vitamin A (another key nutrient in building tooth enamel).  Fruits like bananas and raisins are comprised of lots concentrated sugar so make sure you brush your teeth soon after you eat these fruits. Leafy greens are great sources of calcium too.  
• Protein: Calcium-fortified tofu and almonds can promote good teeth health due to their high calcium properties and other nutrients.  Other great options for protein: meat, poultry, fish, milk and eggs. These foods are also high in phosphorus. Both calcium and phosphorus rebuild and protect your tooth enamel and are vital to your dental health.

Sugar. How Bad is It?

When considering your nutrition and teeth health goals, remember, not ALL sugars are bad. “We actually need sugar; it’s our body’s preferred fuel,” says David Katz, MD, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. “But we eat too damn much of it.” Natural occurring sugars found in fruits, some vegetables, and milk are perfectly healthy. It’s added sugar (sweeteners put in during processing and prep) that we need to moderate.Your body DOES need carbohydrates, which are broken down into sugar in your body. This sugar is essential for your body to create energy to survive. However, it is not necessary to include sugary foods or added sugars in the diet in order for your body to make energy. In November 2015, the Food and Drug Administration recommended people over the age of 3 eat no more than 50 grams of sugar a day and it should make up no more than 10 percent of your daily calories.

You can monitor the amount of sugars you are putting into your diet by making a habit of reading the food labels.  Ingredients on food labels are listed according to weight so if sugar is high on the list, beware.  Since bacteria in your mouth feeds off of carbohydrates, cutting down on sugar and other sources of simple carbohydrates that are easily fermentable can help reduce your cavity risk. Another tip for spotting sources of sugar—terms ending in “-ose” indicate a sugar ingredients.  Sugar substitutes (Splenda, Equal and Sunett, aspartame, erythritol, saccharin, sucralose, isomalt, sorbitol, acesulfame potassium and mannitol) have the appearance and taste of sugar but they don’t promote decay-causing acids in your mouth that erode your teeth. Paying attention to your sugars is an important step in your nutrition and teeth health action plan. 

Call for a Nutrition and Teeth Consultation

If you would like to learn more about how you can help improve your nutrition and teeth health habits for a healthier smile (and body) call our office today!  Mountain Aire Dentistry, located in Broomfield, CO is a general and family dentistry practice. We are passionate about helping you and your children achieve and maintain optimal oral health and a beautiful smile! We focus on prevention, tooth preservation, and awareness and make every effort to treat our patients the way we treat members of our own family. We offer comprehensive care for your dental needs in a relaxed and efficient atmosphere.  We look forward to meeting you and your family! Call us today at (303) 731-7755 to make an appointment.